End of Season thoughts after a few days of reflection

[captain stone]

They were close to winning that Miami game, too. But let's not all go around pretending that this team had any chance in hell, beyond "OMG! It's a freakin' miracle!", of winning 3 games on the road and then the Super Bowl, by the end of the season. Edelman's injury, combined with the utter failures of Sanu and Harry made that impossible...

So you agree with me that they should've won the Titties game?

 

[aluminum seats]

Close to winning another SB? Probably, if not likely, No...

Close to winning the WC game? Hell Yes; in fact they absolutely Should Have won:

If Terry Brooks had Not been in coverage and instead had been one of the blitzers in the Double DB Blitz call on 3rd/10...

If Brady had seen how crazy-light the box was on 1st/goal from the one-yard-line and called his own number...

Now it becomes 17-10 Pats at halftime...

If Slack Mason hadn't committed that stupid Ineligible Man Downfield penalty, then it's 1st down at the Titties 25...

Now it becomes 20-10 Pats after 3 quarters...

Then, after the Harmon INT, if that fecking azzhole Dorsett had come back to the sticks on 3rd/3 when his coverage followed Edelman instead of staying with him, then that's an Easy 1st down and they are practically within FG range again...

Now it's 23-10 Pats with < 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter and the Titties' running game has to be all but abandoned...

The drop by Edelman on their penultimate drive was, of course, completely Inexcusable and Unforgivable, and should eliminate him from Any further discussion of being elected to the HOF...Danny Playoffs would've made that catch, and then some.

Yep. It would have been a defensive run obviously. After the Pittsburgh game last year, if they had stumbled in the first round people would’ve said the same thing. Again, results happen and then people adjust their expectations post-event.

 

[Deus Irae]

So you agree with me that they should've won the Titties game?

That depends on how you're using "should've", probably. Watching the game, it was obvious that, while the Titans were dominating the Patriots defense, it wasn't leading to points. So, in that sense, you can argue that the Patriots had a shot. You can argue about dropped passes and the like. You can argue about coaching blunders. There are plenty of "what if" moments to look at. But that's football, especially in the playoffs. Unless the game is a blowout, pretty much every losing team will be able to point to a play here or there and say "what if".

However, as we know from the early years of this Patriots run, teams frequently could say "what if", because the games weren't blowouts. But that didn't mean that the reality of the game wasn't a clear Patriots victory.

2001: 2 three point games, 1 seven point game
2003: 2 three point games, 1 ten point game that was a 1 score game until less than a minute left, even with 4 Colts INTs


So, as Patriots fans, we'll say "should have won". I suspect most people who follow the league would say "could have won, but the Titans were the better overall team that day".